


Lights will guide you home (and I'll be waiting)

by Liliace



Series: Fix You [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: (not graphic though), Aftermath of Torture, BAMF Clint Barton, BAMF Tony Stark, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Internal Monologue, Less liberal use of parenthesis, M/M, Overbearing teammates (aka Steve and Bucky), Pining, Torture, seriously Tony can take care of himself
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-27
Updated: 2015-12-27
Packaged: 2018-05-09 17:24:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5549003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liliace/pseuds/Liliace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony helps himself (and Clint) for a change, tries not to suffocate under overbearing teammates, and somehow Clint makes it all (or at least some of it) better.</p><p>In which Tony and Clint get kidnapped and that somehow helps Tony (maybe, finally, completely) get over Bucky.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lights will guide you home (and I'll be waiting)

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't want to leave Tony unhappy. Seriously, I do have a heart.
> 
> Also, while this is not bashing, this fic doesn't portray 'protective Steve' or 'protective Bucky' in a very positive light, so if that will bother you, you might want to consider clicking that back button.

Life goes on. Tony continues missing Bucky (and yes, it's stupid considering that Bucky is _right there_ ) and fighting and working. He even sleeps and eats as regularly as he used to, and in general doesn't change his behaviour in any shape or form.

Well, besides restraining himself around Bucky. It's often he finds himself reaching out, or opening his mouth to make a flirty joke, or standing a little too close to Bucky, and then he'd remember how their relationship isn't anymore and what his place is now. Namely, being a friend.

Steve and Bucky are happy, though, and Tony feels a bit better for it. Bucky was obviously more content, relaxed, and so on and so on, and Tony can't begrudge them their happiness. It doesn't matter that it comes at the cost of Tony's own; Tony will deal with it like he does every time life disappoints him (like with Howard and Obadiah and Yinsen and Pepper). And anyway, it's not Steve's or Bucky's fault that Tony feels like shit when they're holding hands or staring at each other or kissing or –

So it hurts. Tony had anticipated that from the beginning (yet it still catches him by surprise because he hasn't experienced that kind of hurt before) and he can live with it. And he does. Hurting hasn't stopped him from enjoying his life before so he isn't about to let it affect it so greatly now. But he's well aware that it will take time (like with Obadiah and Pepper and the arc reactor, though that one was a more physical hurt) so Tony will just have to be patient.

Some may think that patience isn't his best virtue, which, well, it really isn't. But Tony can be patient whenever he wants to (has to), so he'll just go with his standard tactic; fake it till you make it. Besides, faking smiles and happiness is easy: he's been doing it his whole life.

It does get a little better. It takes time, obviously, but it helps that Tony can still have Bucky in some way (and while friends isn't inferior to partners, it's not exactly what Tony wants) and that Tony loves both Steve and Bucky. But yeah, eventually Tony can look at the two of them with only the smallest hint of sadness.

Then, of course, Tony gets kidnapped. It's not surprising, really, since when has Tony been allowed to put himself back together in peace? But the kidnapping itself is kind of a surprise because capturing Tony is much more difficult these days.

Yet all it takes is a stun dart to his neck, and Tony is unconscious before he has the time to alert JARVIS or deploy the Iron Man suit.

He feels slightly better about being caught unawares when he wakes up tied next to Clint (and then feels like shit for finding something positive about his teammate being kidnapped as well).

Turns out it's HYDRA. Not that shocking – which Tony makes sure to tell them, and gets an extra punch for his troubles (but really, the organisation has become slightly predictable after their fall). What is a bit more shocking, however, is the fact that they're holding them captive as bait for Bucky Barnes, aka the Winter Soldier, aka their ex-brainwashed puppet.

Tony's kinda confused by whatever logic they happen to use (do they think that Bucky will revert back to the Winter Soldier persona if he sees the HYDRA agents?) but he really doesn't need to understand how their brains work in that regard. It's not important for the escape plan, after all.

Tony and Clint both get tortured. Well, experimented on, you could say (and fuck if Tony isn't thankful that he had the arc reactor taken out) but since it causes them fuckton of pain anyway, Tony doesn't really care about technicalities such as proper terms. Anyway, he isn't sure what precisely they're trying to accomplish (besides 'how much pain can a human stand') so it's not like Tony knows what experiment they're doing.

At first, at least. He figures out it's something along the lines of 'how much pain can a human watch their friend go through before giving up' after hearing a snippet of a conversation at some point. Day three or four, he'd wager. Anyway, that at least explains why they're letting Clint and him stay in the same cell.

Obviously, Tony shares his revelation with Clint, who then proceeds to curse for a while before falling silent. The next day, Clint asks them to take him instead of Tony (like he'd done every time before, like Tony had done every time they'd take Clint) and Tony can't figure out whether it's because Clint thinks physical torture is worse than mental or because he's being selfish and doesn't want to see a friend hurt or because he thinks Tony will last longer than him.

If it's the last one, Tony has some unfortunate news for him. He could stand his own torture in Afghanistan well enough, but seeing them threaten Yinsen with that hot poker? That right there stopped his heart (or would have, without the reactor in place).

Tony doubles his efforts in thinking about an escape plan even though the agents refuse Clint's offer (because knowing that watching him get tortured hurts Clint as much as them torturing Clint himself makes the situation twice as bad). Thinking of something is slow work because honestly, it's not like they have much to work with, but he's a genius and he'll figure it out eventually. He just hopes it's before HYDRA pulls out the big guns.

Clint helps with the plan. Of course he does; he's a seasoned ex-SHIELD agent, former sort of street rat, and most importantly, one of the most clever (street smarts and common sense count as well) people Tony has ever met. Tony loves him a little bit for his help.

Not because he's helping, though, no: but because he's _helping_ , aka letting Tony do his part as well. And when they decide that in order for any kind of plan to work, one of them needs to make a 'sacrifice play', Clint agrees (reluctantly, but does anyway) for it to be Tony. It's only logical, after all, but Tony knows that neither Steve nor Bucky would have ever let him be the one hurt.

And that's one thing that has always kind of bugged Tony about his relationships with the two men; they want to protect him, sure, but that's because they don't see Tony as strong as them. And yeah, that's true enough, but Tony can't help but also feel like they see him as something inferior because of it.

But Clint, he's just as human as Tony, and though it's weird and probably highly inappropriate, Tony kind of likes the camaradie they're feeling and the fact that it was Clint he got stuck with. That was probably the point, though; to capture the most human members of the team.

It's not like Tony will die, anyway. He just has to surprise the guards with an attack and probably get hurt in the process before Clint manages to come help him. It has to be Tony, too; the guards are more relaxed around him because they (like everyone else) assume that Tony is helpless without his armour; really, his biggest strength is his mind, and Tony doesn't understand why everyone forgets that. It'd bug Tony more if it didn't work to his advantage.

So they make the plan work. It's day six by Tony's calculations, and they're both worse for wear, but Clint is still a superspy slash assassin slash former SHIELD agent, and Tony's still a genius. And yeah, Tony's kneecap gets crushed and his fingers snapped, but then Clint takes both guards out and they're on their way to freedom, so Tony puts up with it (and tries not to think that while he can live with a bad knee, he really, really, _really_ needs his fingers to work).

Clint's aim doesn't falter even when he's been tortured for days, apparently, and he makes much use of one of the guards' weapons. Meanwhile, Tony's right arm is around his shoulders and he tries not to put too much of his weight on Clint while also jogging the best he can with his limp. Tony has a gun too, though, and he uses it whenever there's too many people for Clint to take out alone (Tony made weapons for a living, he sure as hell can use one).

They'd never make it out of the building at the rate they're going, though. So it's a good thing that wasn't the plan at all; they're just trying to reach a room with a computer so Tony can build a bigger weapon or call a Suit to him or contact the rest of the Avengers. Which, it turns out, is surprisingly easy to manage (apparently even HYDRA thinks computer experts are nerds and thus have little security guarding their 'unimportant' asses) and Tony gets right to it.

From then on it's simple enough to guard that one room, hack into his own servers to alert JARVIS, and then build a bomb that he attaches to the door. If anyone tries to forcibly open it, they'd be in for a surprise. But since HYDRA doesn't care about casualties, they force the door open despite Tony's warnings over the intercoms.

It doesn't matter, though, since Tony and Clint are travelling in the vents by that point anyway. And yeah, they're just buying time, but that's all they need; a half an hour for either the Iron Man suit or the other Avengers to arrive.

As it turns out, those things happen at the same time. The Suit crashes through the roof, which, actually, not such a good thing because both Clint and Tony fall down from the vents (and Tony kind of curses himself for not thinking about it when he made the tracking device with Clint's help an hour ago) and there are alarmed yells about SHIELD from the HYDRA soldiers around them.

Tony doesn't put on the suit, though. He can't, not when he can't put any weight on his right leg (and fuck those fuckers for crushing his knee) so he sits back with Clint while the suit protects them. It wouldn't have lasted long, probably, but then there's a different Suit flying through the halls to them, and Tony grins and waves his left arm (right one still tightly around Clint) to show Rhodey that he's okay.

With War Machine there it doesn't matter how many goons there are; they all die quickly. When it's relatively quiet and calm, Rhodey comes to stand up in front of them and demands a status check. Upon hearing that Tony's leg is unusable, Rhodey picks him up (and Tony protests a little bit but only for form's sake) and Tony orders the Iron Man suit to envelope Clint (who goes wide eyed and stares at Tony incredulously) before letting War Machine carry him off.

And that's how they are rescued; Tony in the arms of Rhodey, Clint inside a Suit, and mostly thanks to the efforts of the two 'helpless human prisoners'. It doesn't stop Tony from feeling grateful that they all came for them, though (he spots a red, white, and blue shield flying at some point, and sees a flash of metal as an arm comes to choke someone, and there's a roar from Hulk somewhere, and though he doesn't notice Natasha anywhere he's sure she's there kicking ass).

Rhodey leads Tony and Clint to the Quinjet (or carries, in Tony's case) and them leaves them there as he takes off to fight the bad guys again. Tony asks JARVIS to take the armour off of Clint, who glares at him balefully for a moment after he's free of the Suit's constrictions. Then they both crash on the floor (the benches would be just as uncomfortable and not big enough) and just lie there for a while, staring at the ceiling.

Tony's marvelling at making it out alive once more. He's also trying not to think about the pain in his knee or fingers or fingertips (because his fingernails got taken off at some point, and seriously, how cliché is that?) or stomach or, well, basically everywhere in his body. He figures Clint is thinking along the same lines.

Eventually, the others trickle in, and everyone looks worried though it's only Steve and Rhodey asking the concerned questions while Natasha goes to take control of the Quinjet. They take off, and set way to the Avengers tower (because there's a medical centre there, designed specifically for the Avengers' use) and Steve says something about being sorry they didn't bring any doctors. Tony dismisses that, though, since it's not like he and Clint gave them a heads up or anything.

They arrive at the Tower and everything gets super busy, and Tony can only wave at Pepper as they cart him past her. He manages to fully relax only after all the bustle and hustle is over, and he and Clint are alone in the room (the doctors sent everyone else away, worried they were stressing their patients – which they were).

Tony gives a thumbs up to Clint (with his right hand as his left fingers are splintered) to let him know that he's okay or to express his happiness at making it out (he's not quite sure), and then they both burst into slightly hysterical laughter, and Tony can only grin as he basks in the knowledge that they're both safe again.

Neither of them manages to fall asleep before Natasha enters the room (and she looks slightly shifty so Tony just knows that no one actually gave her clearance to be there). She doesn't call them idiots even though she kinda looks like she wants to, and instead just smiles in obvious relief as she expresses her happiness at having them back (and yeah, Tony's grin kinda gets wider when he's included in that).

They hang out for a bit, Clint telling Natasha what happened to them (and Tony's glad he isn't the one who has to share the details, and also glad that it's out in the open) before they fall into silence. Eventually, Natasha leaves with a promise to smuggle Pepper in the next time she comes if the doctors still won't allow anyone in.

And she does. Tony and Clint both fall asleep, and when they wake up, they each have a woman sitting by their bedside. Tony finds it hilarious for some reason, but doesn't dare laugh when Pepper's eyes are glistening with unshed tears.

The doctors allow people to visit them on the next day, and suddenly everyone's there. Tony basks in the attention (and is pretty sure that Clint does as well), and he jokes along with Rhodey about being a damsel in distress. Though he does make sure to remind them all that he and Clint did most of the work; the others just had to show up to the coordinates Tony had given JARVIS. It's Clint who tells the story again, though, and Tony only laughs when Clint plays up his own part in their self-rescue ("I had to shoot and beat up all the agents while carrying Tony in my arms").

They are told that most of the HYDRA agents ended up dead (and both Bucky and Natasha grin in satisfaction at that) and those that are still alive will face trial after they're well enough (and Tony knows his friends well enough to understand that some of the agents were deliberately hurt worse than necessary).

That sets the pace for the next couple of days; everyone visits them in the medical centre while Tony wastes away time on his tablet and Clint watches movies and plays Mario Kart (Tony desperately wants to take part in the latter, but can't because of his fingers). Clint is allowed to leave earlier than Tony, but he doesn't ("Do you think he'll stay here if you leave?" Natasha asks Clint, and Tony kinda both loves and hates her for it).

On the fourth day, they're both released. Tony has more restrictions than Clint because of his hurt leg, but that's fine, he can just build things to work around that anyway. His fingers bother him the most, and he actually has to accept his bots help in the workshop.

Not that he's able to go there very often. His doctors ordered bedrest, sure, but that doesn't mean that Tony was planning on following their advice. He wouldn't have, either, if Steve and Bucky would just give him a break. Pepper knows him the best, understands that he needs a distraction, so she doesn't say anything when she finds Tony in his workshop (just like she didn't say anything when he first had the arc reactor imbedded in his chest), and Rhodey's gone ("Some of us have to work, you know," he said with a regretful smile as he crushed Tony to his chest) so he can't complain either. Steve and Bucky's overbearingness makes up for it, though.

They babysit him as often as possible, always trying to make sure at least one of them is at his bedside. They only allow him to get up to use the bathroom; they even bring him food to bed. If he needs to go somewhere further away, rather than allow him to use his wheelchair, they pick him up and carry him. It's all very nice and sweet and Tony kind of loves having Bucky's arms around him, but it's driving him crazy.

Not only because he has to see Steve and Bucky be together all the time, either (though their handholding and shit is definitely bothering Tony as well), but also because Tony needs to do things. He has to keep his mind distracted, has to work and build and invent, and they won't let him.

It comes from a sweet, concerned place, sure, and they're only trying to make Tony do what the doctors told him to, but it irritates Tony to hell and back. It wasn't his first kidnapping, his first torture, and he knows how to take care of himself the best. Yeah, it might seem like he's ignoring his own wellbeing, but he's actually trying to _help_ himself – sitting around, doing nothing is only making everything worse for him and why can't they see it.

Carrying him around isn't helping, either; Tony's heartrate speeds up every time Bucky lifts him, and he wants to touch but he can't because they don't do that anymore. And having that hammered down every day isn't doing his mental state any favours.

Tony can only go down to the workshop when he manages to slip off without Steve or Bucky's notice, or has Pepper or Bruce watching him (Bruce takes him down to his own lab, actually, which is almost as good so Tony doesn't mind). He doesn't see Clint too often (only when they happen to go to the common living room at the same time) but he gets regular updates from Natasha, who visits Tony daily and assigned herself to be Clint's personal minder (and Tony kinda hopes his best woman friend aka Pepper had as much free time as Clint's does so she could 'babysit' him all the time as well).

Clint gets the all clear way before Tony does, and Tony's both envious and glad – glad because that means Clint can visit him as well. The first time Clint comes to see him and sees Bucky carry Tony to the couch, he lifts his eyebrows incredulously and stares at Tony with a 'what the fuck' expression that Tony wholeheartedly agrees with. It doesn't take long for Clint to clue in as to what's happening (aka Bucky and Steve being way, way too overbearing) and from then on, it's usually Clint and/or Natasha who are 'babysitting' him. Tony likes this change as they allow him to go work on his projects.

It's on the third or fourth day of actually working again (and Clint and Natasha both help him when he can't do something due to his broken fingers and he loves them a bit for it) that Tony suddenly stops, turns to stare at his companions, and invites Natasha to sit on his lap ("Come on, you know you want it," Tony winks, and Natasha says "In your dreams, Stark" as she goes to follow his request).

Tony starts with saying that kidnappings suck, but he can deal with them, and then goes to complain about how the recovery is actually the worst part of the whole ordeal. He explains how much he hates the (s)mothering treatment Steve gives him, and how Bucky's constant concern and presence are actually making him feel like shit and not helping at all. He says how he understands where they're coming from, really, _but he can take care of himself_.

Natasha kisses him on the forehead and Clint just says 'that sucks', and Tony grins at them in relief at finally getting that all off his chest. Then he goes back to work, and everything seems to be completely normal, except JARVIS tells him that they asked to be informed every time Steve or Bucky were alone with him, and from then on the two of them run interference.

Also, Clint kind of makes out with him and jacks him off and Tony gives him a blowjob in return. That's kind of normal as well, though, since it's not the first time Tony's has a friends with benefits situation going on (and he desperately tries not to think about the last time and how he actually fell in love with Bucky).

They keep pleasuring each other because they need the release and relaxation it brings ("Couldn't you do this with Natasha?" Tony asks, and Clint stares at him like he's insane. "She'd eat me alive, I'm not even kidding"). They also talk about what happened while they were being held captive, and though Tony also talks about it with Rhodey and Pepper (and he's pretty sure Clint shares even the cruellest details with Natasha), talking with Clint helps him the most.

So yeah, they bond over shared torture and escape and the horror of being on bedrest, and maybe Clint started it because it was a pity fuck (except not 'fuck' because Tony's still hurt and Clint refuses to take it that far) but Tony's pretty sure it continues because he's amazing at pleasuring his partners, so Tony doesn't mind. He hates pity in general, but Clint never made him feel like he was pitied, so it's all fine.

Tony also starts to get over Bucky more. He can't say whether it's because he now has someone else to develop feelings for (which he doesn't, nope, no sire) or because he doesn't see Bucky as often or perhaps because Bucky's behaviour irritated him so much when he was recovering, but he's thankful regardless.

When the doctors finally give him the all clear, Tony pretty much sings of happiness (and mumbles "shut up" when Clint and Pepper laugh at him). He also starts to see Steve and Bucky more often again, and realizes that he actually missed the two of them a lot. So much, in fact, that he doesn't mind when both of them give him bear hugs and Bucky even lifts him off his feet as he twirls him around. Tony just keeps smiling throughout, and when he's sandwiched between them on a celebratory movie night, he winks at Clint and snuggles with the super soldiers.

Later, he thinks about how his heart doesn't twinge near Bucky anymore, not even when Bucky and Steve kiss or do other couple-y stuff. He throws the thought out of his mind when Clint whines at him, though, and grins teasingly at Clint (making it seem like his pause was intentional) before continuing sucking him off. And yeah, maybe he switched one doomed crush for another, but that's life (or maybe Tony just sucks at living).


End file.
